Transcending Boundaries with Chinese Orchestral Music:

In Taiwan, virtually every person who has studied Chinese orchestral music has grown up playing the compositions of Lo Leung-fai. He penned many of the genre’s classic works, including The Four Seasons Suite (comprising “Spring,” “Summer,” “Autumn,” and “Winter”) and Memories of Childhood.

Lo Leung-fai: A Profile

Born in Indonesia in 1938, Lo Leung-fai studied piano as a child and was later a student in the Department of Composition at the Tianjin Conservatory of Music in China. He eventually relocated to Hong Kong, where he became a member of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Encouraged by conductor Ng Tai-kong, he tried his hand at composing modernist Chinese orchestral music, injecting the genre with avant-garde energy. (photo by Chou Chia-hui, courtesy of National Culture and Arts Foundation)

Leader in his field in Taiwan

In 1986 Lo and Ng Tai-kong, then musical director and conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, were invited to come to Taiwan and compose the work Spring in the Port City for the then amateur organization that was the predecessor of today’s ­Kaohsiung ­Chinese Orchestra. This large-scale choral symphonic poem premiered to a packed house in Kaohsiung (the “port city” of the title), and the enthusiastic response prompted the orchestra to go professional. It also gave Lo the opportunity to settle in Taiwan.

At that time Taiwan’s environment for Chinese orchestral music was still in its formative stage. With his works, Lo drove an improvement in performance techniques and pushed Chinese traditional music circles in Taiwan forward. For instance, his Yu Mode featured a passage in 7/8 meter—a time signature then unheard of in the genre—leaving conductors and teachers scratching their heads. Lo even appeared on radio programs to explain how the piece should be conducted and interpreted. In addition, the abundant modulations in his pieces have caused all students of the dizi (bamboo flute) to train hard to master half-fingering techniques. Today, many of these demanding compositions, which comprehensively elevated the level of Chinese traditional orchestral music in Taiwan, have become classic selections to play at music competitions.

Music with a Taiwan flavor

“During my 40 years in Taiwan, I have constantly been in search of a Taiwanese style—music with a Taiwanese flavor.” In Lo’s mind, the most representative figure in Taiwanese music is Teng Yu-hsien, a songwriter of Hokkien folk tunes who lived during the era of Japanese rule. Lo still recalls how moved he was when he first heard Teng’s 1934 song “Flowers on a Rainy Night.” He showed his veneration for Teng’s composition by incorporating it into his dizi flute concerto Affection of Spring Wind and Night Rain, whose graceful melody has become a classic adapted by dizi performers in Taiwan and abroad.

Nurtured by Taiwan, Lo has created works that exhibit a palpable attachment to the island. Works that embody his fondness for this land include Spring in Eluanbi, which started off as an improvisation during an instructional demonstration and developed into a sheng (Chinese reed pipe) concerto, and Love River Capriccio, which Lo wrote for the pianist Chen Rueibin.

The flowing music of the album Intimate Ties: Lo Leung-fai’s Ensemble Homage to Taiwan, recorded by the Taipei Chinese Orchestra (TCO), embodies Lo’s attachment to this land. It was nominated in the Best Album category at the 37th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music in 2026. (courtesy of TCO)

Lo likes to leave room in his scores for conductors and musicians to insert their own interpretations of the works and the feelings they inspire. (courtesy of TCO)

“Weird music”

Lo likes to leave spaces in his sheet music to allow conductors and musicians to add their own interpretations and feelings. Take for example the version of Lo’s Love of Sizi Bay (which is very popular among violinists) as performed by Li I-ching, former first chair of the National Symphony Orchestra (a.k.a. the Taiwan Philharmonic): Her freestyle technique in the cadenza peerlessly depicted the deep attachment between lovers, in a performance that intoxicated the audience and earned Lo’s profound admiration.

Never one to be bound by rules, Lo has continued to combine different instruments and cross-­disciplinary influences with Chinese traditional music. At the age of 80 he took on the challenge of composing concertos for pipe organ and bass guitar, writing The Art of the Pipe Organ and Electric Bass Passion. He also wrote the music for an opera based on a novel by Russian author Anton Chekhov. He used ideas from traditional Chinese opera and Taiwanese folk music to “translate” this transnational text, demonstrating a broad interdisciplinary perspective.

Lo Leung-fai says with a smile that he has had enough of composing works with an intense ethnic identity, like The Four Seasons Suite. Now he wants to experiment and produce more “weird music” such as Glimmer of Zodiac Signs. Nevertheless, no matter how bizarre his works get, Lo has always held to his original aspiration to create music that appeals to both refined and popular tastes and evokes vivid imagery. Only by making compositions mellifluous and accessible can they become recognized by the broader public, and only in this way can Chinese orchestral music advance far into the future. 

Lo arrived in Taiwan in the formative years for Chinese traditional orchestral music in Taiwan. His works spurred advances in performance techniques and comprehensively upgraded the quality of this genre in Taiwan. His National Award for Arts is well deserved indeed. (photo by Chou Chia-hui, courtesy of National Culture and Arts Foundation)

The opening performance of the Taipei Chinese Orchestra’s 2025–2026 season was devoted exclusively to works by Lo Leung-fai, with the composer making a touching personal appearance. (courtesy of TCO)